Chapter 143: Who Are You?

After two days of sleeping in shifts to keep watch Abby could barely keep herself awake while on the horse. At one point she dozed off and slipped sideways off the saddle, forcing Blaise to catch her.

His violet eyes were full of concern and she felt her heart skip a beat. It might have been because she was dangling off the side of the horse with only his arm and chest supporting her.

"Sorry. I'm so sleepy I can't stop dozing off," she said sheepishly once she was back upright.

"No need to worry. We should reach the border of their territory soon. We'll be able to ask for better directions from there," Blaise assured her.

And they did, about two hours of fighting yawns and heavy eyelids later. Black haired people were coming and going from the entrance of a cave within their line of sight. Abby was so excited that she hopped off of the horse to approach them herself.

A boy who couldn't have been older than fifteen approached her a bit warily. "Who are you and what brings you here? I've never seen someone from Shibatsu that isn't married to a clansman in the mountains before."

"This is Blaise; he's my personal guard since I've been traveling here from Shibatsu. I'm Abby Pullman. I'm here looking for a relative of mine. She was a citizen of Annalaias but married a Kanta clansman," she said in as unthreatening a way as she could muster.

The boy put his hands on his hips, not quite believing her yet. "Your relative? What is her name?"

This is where things might get tricky. She wasn't sure how much the people here knew about Katie's dual identity as Catherine du Pont. It was a good thing she said 'relative' instead of 'sister.' She highly doubted they would know all of the du Pont cousins by name.

"Katie de Kanta. She's married to your clan leader," Abby said with a wince.

Now the boy eyed her with interest. "A relative of Katie's? Really?" His guard was suddenly up again. "Tell me something only a relative of Katie's would know."

Abby knew a whole bunch of things only a relative of Katie's would know! But what could she use that this kid would believe?

"Um…she calls her husband Al? She has a son named Adam and hates big dresses but likes doughnuts and books. I really don't know what else to tell you."

The boy's face broke into a satisfied smile. "That's Katie alright. I believe you. Let me go find my father. We'll be heading back to the village soon anyway."

Twenty minutes later, a handful of other raven-haired gray-eyed people exited the mouth of the cave covered in dust and sweat. They wore what appeared to be primitive hard hats and leather work gloves with thick coats, pants, and boots.

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The summer heat wasn't nearly as oppressive up in the mountains as it had been in the valley. Abby had noticed that the higher up they got over the past several days.

The boy pulled a man in his late thirties or early forties forward. "This is my father, Toa. He is the head miner here."

The man made an 'x' with his arms over his chest and nodded, which she assumed was a respectful greeting. "Lian tells me you are a relative of Alamar's wife. Welcome to our mountain. I would be happy to take you to them. We live in the same village."

So the boy's name was Lian. He had never properly introduced himself. Now that he realized that, he appeared a bit sheepish. Funny kid. Demanding who they were without giving anything away himself.

As they walked, Abby's nerves reached an all-time high. Was the sister she loved so deeply truly still alive here in this fantasy world? Was she about to be reunited after thinking they would be apart forever?

Toa chatted pleasantly with Blaise about his family, most of whom helped him run that particular mine. There were mines scattered throughout the mountain range but this one was fairly close to their village, only an hour or so by foot.

His wife stayed at home with their younger children but his brother, two nephews, and his oldest son and daughter worked here with him. The part of Abby that wasn't panicking about seeing Katie again and was half-listening had been amazed that a mine could be operated with so few people.

"There aren't many of us here," Toa continued. "Ilmir only consists of about one hundred and fifty people. There is another village called Raisha deeper in the mountains with another hundred or so that run different mines. We see most of them fairly frequently though. Alamar travels there at least once a month to check up on them and make sure they are doing alright too."

Less than three hundred Kanta total had returned to their homeland. Most of their people had died in the raids and the few survivors that escaped to neighboring countries had intermarried and produced many children.

Abby had heard that nearly every single Kanta clansman who heard about the innovations Al and Katie had made decided to return even if they originally hadn't planned on it. And there were rumors that the few that remained were only held back by saving up for passage to Annalaias.

Everyone wanted to come home and see their people led into a new age of prosperity, even the second and third generation refugees who had put down roots in their adopted nations. That was pretty impressive.

Once the village was visible in the distance Abby's heart began pounding. Out of sheer instinct, she reached for Blaise's hand to keep her grounded. She felt like she might fly away at any moment.

He was only surprised for a moment before tightening his grip on her hand, seeming to understand what she was feeling. She needed something tangible to hold onto as she was about to find out whether or not she had wasted the past six months of her life.

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